Closeley Watched Trains is avaiable as part of the Criterion Collection of DVDs. I saw it on TCM a number of years ago, and later bought the DVD.

_________________--David M. Wilkins

"They Love Him for the Enemies He Has Made!"

J3a-614

Post subject: Re: Vague and Foreign Railroad Themed Films

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2012 12:54 am

Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2010 3:41 amPosts: 3141Location: Inwood, W.Va.

I didn't pick up the publication, but I seem to recall that one of the "100 Best Railroad Films" as nominated by the people at Kalmbach included "Brief Encounter," a "soap opera" from 1945, based on a Noel Coward play from the 1930s. I recall one of the pluses was that some of the rail footage was reminiscent of what O. Winston Link might have done if he had a movie camera available. The effect in lighting is certainly there, but for me, there isn't enough of it! Doggone it, it's really a "chick flick!" Oh well. . .what is there looks better than most of what you see, even in modern film, and much of the movie takes place in a station, with bell signals announcing the approach of trains. . .

Time signatures in this YouTube version for rail action are at 0:00:53 (opening credit sequence), 0:02:00 (actual start of film), 0:18:12 (and this one puts a cinder in the eye of the female lead, Celia Johnson), 0:32:30 (Johnson's Laura Jesson musing on a love affair as a train arrives), and another platform scene at 1:17:40.

A bit of comedy at 1:02:40 is a comment about the food in the station restaurant that my corny sense of humor thought was funny ("If them sandwiches were made this morning, you're Shirley Temple!")

I asked my why she likes movies like this, which are really a lot of people talking, not a whole lot of action as such. Her reply was "Of course I like chick flicks, I'm a chick!"

Pffffft!!

J3a-614

Post subject: Re: Vague and Foreign Railroad Themed Films

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 12:55 am

Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2010 3:41 amPosts: 3141Location: Inwood, W.Va.

Got curious to look up "La Ilusion Viaja en Tranvia," or "Illusion Travels by Streetcar." I haven't seen all of it yet, just enough to find it, check that the playlist feature works through all nine segments and post it here, but blow me down, what a flick! I don't know a lick of Spanish, but from what I've seen, this movie looks like one made by a serious trolley fan, and judging from the situations and reactions of the actors, one that had a good writer as well!

If only we could get something of equal quality for North American steam. . .

A friend and coworker, one who has also told me I live in the wrong time, once told me that my attempt at selling a TV series based on steam railroading and the situations railroaders ran into needed more s-e-x. If the poster for this film is any indication, it looks like the producers of this Mexican film understood that as well. . .

Additional commentary--just ran through the first segment, and the movie opens with an apparent mini-history of transit service in what I assume is Mexico City, followed by some amazing shop scenes that strike me as a cross between John Frankenhiemer's "The Train" and something from E. Jay Quinby's "Interurban Interlude!"

Looks like one I'm going to have to try to pick up, provided I can get one with English subtitles to be able to figure out what everyone is saying!

Bob Davis

Post subject: Re: Vague and Foreign Railroad Themed Films

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 1:55 am

Joined: Sat Aug 28, 2004 3:25 amPosts: 1025

I told my wife about tuning in the 1951 version of "Streetcar Named Desire" for the first five minutes (the only time an actual streetcar appears) and then going off and doing something else. She exclaimed, "Why that's one of the great dramas in the history of American theater!" Then she thought for a moment and said, "I guess we all have our priorities."

_________________Bob Davis
Southern California

mikerowe

Post subject: Re: Vague and Foreign Railroad Themed Films

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 2:18 am

Joined: Fri Mar 21, 2008 11:12 pmPosts: 95Location: Boulder, CO

J3a-614,

This is not an inconsequential film by an inconsequential director. The director, Luis Bunuel, is widely recognized in cinematic circles in North and Central America and Europe as contributing significantly to the art form over his lifetime. I would suggest that you read this Wikipedia entry for some more background on Luis Bunuel.

FWIW, going back to the original post, the movie is Emperor of The North- not North Pole.

It was both. Pole was the last word of the title originally, but they dropped the word before the main release. There exists promotional materials for that movie that lists the title as "Emperor of the North Pole". My understanding is that the original title was confusing in test audiences, even though it's a joke relating to the best hobo there is only being emperor of a frozen wasteland...

There is an excellent Russian film from 2010 called "The Edge" , set in Siberia in 1945 in which 3 live steam locomotives are featured prominently. The trailer (with english subtitles) can be seen here:

It's so odd that a film with that many well-known stars has never been released on DVD. There are some good secondary market (read: good quality copy) DVDs out there, I recently bought one and have watched the film a few times since. It's a really funny movie, with or without 4449 in it. It must be seen if for no other reason than to see Doyle McCormack's Hollywood debut, saying, "You're crazy, nobody robs trains anywmore," to Kirk Douglas (followed by Burt Lancaster pointing a .38 revolver at him). They did a test screening of this movie in 1986, a couple of weeks before it came out in my hometown. A railfan pal of mine and I went to see it. They handed out one-sheet movie posters afterward which I still have rolled up in a tube.

_________________Lee Bishop

Bob Davis

Post subject: Re: Vague and Foreign Railroad Themed Films

Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 2:01 pm

Joined: Sat Aug 28, 2004 3:25 amPosts: 1025

For traction fans, Tough Guys has a scene filmed at the portal of the Pacific Electric subway tunnel (by then long abandoned) and the vacant Toluca Substation building.

Jim Templin, I want to say thank you for posting the link to "Flame Over India," which was released elsewhere as "Northwest Frontier." I recall seeing that movie when I was very young, in what would have had to have been my parents' 1955 Mercury at the local drive in. Didn't remember much of the movie except for the scene in which the train has to be worked over that tall, partially blown bridge; and the climax in which the Dutch-Indian reporter Van Leyden (played by Herbert Lom, best known as the neurotic Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus in the Pink Panther films) is attempting to kill the boy with the machine gun. Glad to see all of it again.

I personally wonder if it is as "politically incorrect" as you think it might be. The British of that era, and ourselves more recently, have unfortunately tended to be "know-it-alls" at times, and too often our businessmen in their pursuit of money have been the our real face to the world. I fear we do not live in the time of FDR and Harry Truman anymore! Muslim characters do have some range, including Van Leyden who, although attempting to kill the boy, is also appalled at things he sees as necessary for an independent India. There is also the character of Gupka, the engine driver (played by Indian actor I. S. Johar, who was apparently best known for comic roles in his native land), who, as the best of railroaders have always been, is loyal to his job and to the responsibility that those under his care will be delivered safely to their destination. He is perhaps one of several unsung and perhaps unnoticed heroes of the film.

Location work was actually in Spain, on a rail line that is now abandoned; the large bridge featured above is still standing and is preserved.

Found something else, a short clip from the 1947 film "Possessed," staring the legendary Joan Crawford as a woman with serious mental issues. Check out the Los Angeles PCC car in this opening from the movie (spoiler alert, this is all the rail action there is in the movie, which is considered a classic of film noir):

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